Federal of cials in September proposed rules to require radon testing in one
narrow situation: when housing authorities renovate a public housing
development and switch the type of subsidy that pays the rent. An estimated
100,000 units are expected to fall into that category in coming years, about 10%
of public housing.
Separately, HUD formed a radon “workgroup,” spokesman Brian Sullivan said in
early October. The agency was “very close” to an announcement that would be
shared with housing authorities nationally, said Sullivan, who has since left HUD.
“We have to give credit where credit is due,” Sullivan said at the time, “even if it
means getting a kick in the pants from The Oregonian.”
The agency would not say what new policy changes, if any, it planned to make.
A study center in Portland, Maine’s Kennedy Park public housing development. Several apartments in Kennedy
Park tested high for radon in 2014 and 2015.
HUD’s failure to protect public housing tenants from radon is “irresponsible,” said
Rachael Malmberg, president of the advocacy group Cancer Survivors Against
Radon.
She said HUD must do more than merely encourage local authorities to nd and
remove radon gas.
“A recommendation only goes so far as words on paper,” said Malmberg, 33, who
has advanced-stage lung cancer she links to radon in her private childhood home
in Minnesota. “There needs to be some sort of accountability.”
Congress should provide money for radon testing and removal systems, and HUD
should require it, said Diane Yentel, president and chief executive of the National
Low Income Housing Coalition.